Xi stresses boosting guarantee ability of land element for high-quality development of regions with competitive strengths

Beijing: Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Chinese president, and chairman of the Central Military Commission, presided over the fourth meeting of the Central Commission for Comprehensively Deepening Reform on the afternoon of Feb. 19. He is also director of the commission. Several documents were reviewed and adopted at the meeting. They are the Guidelines on Reforming Land Management System to Promote the Ability to Guarantee High-quality Development of Regions with Competitive Strengths, the Guidelines on Promoting the Comprehensive Green Transition in the Economic and Social Development, the Guidelines on Further Improving the Primary-level Emergency Management Capacity, the Guidelines on Accelerating the Building of a Foundational System for All-round Innovation, the summary report of the Central Commission for Comprehensively Deepening Reform on its work in 2023, and the commission’s key tasks for 2024.

Xi emphasized the need to establish and improve a land management system that can more effectively dovetail with macroeconomic policies and regional development, so that the land element can be allocated more accurately and utilized with higher efficiency. Efforts should be made to promote the formation of a territorial space development pattern that imposes effective constraints on the main functions and guarantees coordinated and orderly land development. The land element’s ability to guarantee high-quality development of regions that enjoy competitive strengths should also be strengthened.

The green transition in all aspects of economic and social development is a fundamental solution to resource, environmental and ecological problems. It is essential to push for a comprehensive, synergetic, innovative and safe transformation. With carbon emissions peaking and carbon neutrality as the goals, concerted efforts must be made to cut carbon emissions, reduce pollution, expand green development and pursue economic growth, and the idea of green development must be applied in the full course and all aspects of economic and social development. It is important to beef up emergency management capabilities at the primary level, shift more management endeavors to the grassroots level, weigh guarantee policies toward the grassroots, and forward deploy guarding posts, so as to effectively prevent and defuse major safety risks, deal with disasters and accidents in a timely, forceful and efficient manner, and make sure that the line is never crossed in this regard. It is essential to zero in on prominent constraints hindering deeper integration of science and technology with the economy, keep advancing reforms by focusing on what innovation is meant for, who is supposed to organize innovation and how innovation can be incentivized and protected, and accelerate the building of a foundational system for all-round innovation.

Li Qiang, Wang Huning and Cai Qi, members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and deputy heads of the Central Commission for Comprehensively Deepening Reform, attended the meeting.

It was noted at the meeting that we should better coordinate the regional economic planning and the utilization of land space. Based on the unique functional roles and resource endowments of different regions, we should refine land management policies, improve the efficiency of resource development and utilization, and amplify the exemplary and leading role of regions with competitive strengths. It is essential to make sure that boundaries are not crossed as far as land space management is concerned, strictly safeguard three lines of control — arable land and permanent basic farmland, ecological conservation and urban development boundaries, and bolster oversight during and after the implementation of policies. For some exploratory yet pressing reform measures, in-depth research must be conducted before they are taken in a cautious and steady manner.

It was stressed at the meeting that to promote a holistic green shift in economic and social development, efforts must be made in pivotal sectors of economic and social growth to forge a spatial configuration characterized by green, low-carbon, and high-quality development. It is important to accelerate the green transformation in industrial structures, energy mix, transportation systems, and urban-rural construction and development, making it possible for resource conservation and environmental protection to become a mode of production and a way of life as soon as possible. It is necessary to seize the key links in promoting green transformation, promote all-round conservation, accelerate the transformation of consumption, and strengthen green technology innovation and the popularization and application of advanced green technologies. We need to improve fiscal, tax, financial, investment, and pricing policies and relevant market-oriented mechanisms to support green and low-carbon transformation, and provide policy support and institutional guarantees for green transformation.

It was noted at the meeting that it is necessary to straighten up the management system, strengthen the Party’s leadership over grassroots emergency management, and give full play to the comprehensive advantages of emergency management departments as well as the professional advantages of relevant departments and relevant parties. The chain of responsibility for “prevention” and “rescue” must be dovetailed, so as to improve the all-encompassing framework for safety and emergency response. It is necessary to improve the working mechanism, promote the formation of a closed-loop management featuring hidden danger detection, risk identification, monitoring and early warning, so that risks can be prevented and detected earlier, and their impact be minimized and addressed in a timely manner. It is essential to improve the guarantee mechanism, increase basic investment, and strengthen the emergency rescue force in accordance with the population size, economic scale, characteristics of disasters and accidents, and degree of safety risks in a region. It is necessary to strengthen the education and training of grassroots officials, and boost the public’s awareness of risk prevention and their ability to save themselves and help each other.

It was stressed at the meeting that speeding up establishing a foundational system for all-round innovation is an important measure for deepening structural scientific and technological reform and achieving greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology. It is imperative to improve the system under which the CPC Central Committee exercises centralized, unified leadership over science and technology work, and the new system for mobilizing resources nationwide to make key technological breakthroughs. To make up for institutional deficiencies, it is essential to focus on prominent issues concerning the coordination of entities, the allocation of elements, incentives and constraints as well as opening up and security. System design should be strengthened in a classified manner in accordance with the various rules for scientific research, technological development and industrial innovation, and pilot reform projects should be launched first to usher in any major reform. Systematic integration should also be strengthened, and the evaluation of the consistency of policy orientation should be conducted on newly launched measures and newly formulated institutions, so as to ensure consistent efforts to form synergies.

It was noted at the meeting that over the past year, we fully implemented the guiding principles of the 20th CPC National Congress, profoundly grasped the new requirements for comprehensively deepening reform as entailed by advancing Chinese modernization, made sound arrangements for the reform work on the new starting point, and made targeted, coordinated and continued efforts, providing vitality and impetus for the start of the new journey. We fully implemented the plans and reform tasks set forth at the 20th CPC National Congress, studied and adopted a series of significant reform documents, and pooled resources to tackle urgent challenges crucial for high-quality development as well as pressing concerns of the people. We carried out reforms of Party and state institutions, improved the Party’s leadership systems, optimized the assignment of responsibilities at institutions in science and technology, finance and other key areas, and basically completed the reform at the level of central authorities. Coordinated efforts were made to promote and supervise the implementation of key reform tasks, ensuring that reforms were carried out and delivered results.

This year is another important one for comprehensively deepening reform. The primary task is to make plans for further comprehensive reforms, which is not only the sequel of practice in this regard since the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, but also represents a new chapter of advancing Chinese modernization. It is imperative to stick to the critical move — reform and opening up to solve the problems in the course of development and tackle the risks and challenges on the way ahead. Efforts must be sustained in effectively implementing the reform measures that help expand domestic demand, optimize structure, boost confidence, safeguard people’s wellbeing, and prevent and defuse risks. Concentrated efforts need to be made to solve the most crucial and pressing problems.

Major measures should be soundly planned to further reform on all fronts, focusing on the systemic and institutional obstacles that hinder the smooth progress of Chinese modernization. It is essential to clarify the strategic focus, priority order, main direction, and methods for advancing the reform, emphasizing a problem-oriented approach and highlighting key reform tasks in various fields. Reform measures should be distinctly targeted, aiming to solve the most pressing issues with great intensity and high quality. It is vital to fully mobilize the enthusiasm for reform from all sides, further converge consensus on reform, and harness the strength of the entire Party and the nation to advance and implement major reform tasks. It is essential to extensively listen to opinions and suggestions from all quarters, timely summarize fresh experiences created by the general public at the primary level, and motivate Party members and officials to take responsibilities so as to create a robust reform atmosphere, in which people can engage in innovation, strive for practical outcomes, and forge ahead.

Members of the Central Commission for Comprehensively Deepening Reform attended the meeting, and leading officials of central Party and state departments sat in on the meeting.